ISLAMABAD, May 8 (APP): Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Wednesday strongly condemned the blast near Data Darbar in Lahore.

In a statement, She expressed heartfelt condolences with the families of the martyred and said that those targeting the Mazars of Sufi saints were enemies of Pakistan who want to create anarchy in the country through hatching conspiracies.

BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua): China on Tuesday expressed sincerity towards continuing economic and trade talks with the United States, saying the Chinese side does not evade conflict.

"Negotiation itself is a process of discussion, and it is normal for the two sides to have differences," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang at a press briefing.

Geng said China always believes that mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit are the premise and basis for reaching an agreement, and that adding tariffs will not solve any problems.

New Delhi, May 7 : The Supreme Court Tuesday dismissed the plea filed by 21 Opposition leaders seeking a review of its April 8 order directing the Election Commission to increase random matching of VVPAT slips with EVMs to five polling booths per assembly segment.

"We are not inclined to modify our order," a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said.

The plea was filed by opposition leaders led by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Citing lower global growth, New Zealand’s Reserve Bank on Wednesday cut the nation’s benchmark interest rate by a quarter point to an all-time low of 1.5%.

The cut brings New Zealand’s rate in line with Australia’s rate of 1.5%. It was New Zealand’s first cut since November 2016, when the bank also cut the rate by a quarter point.

ANKARA; 8 May 2019; AA: Turkey and India will hold political consultations in New Delhi, India’s capital, on Wednesday.

Sedat Onal, Turkey’s deputy foreign minister and Gitesh Sarma, secretary (West) in External Affairs Ministry of India will co-chair the talks, a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said.

Bilateral relations, regional and international issues as well as cooperation in the international organizations will be discussed during the consultations, it added.

TEHRAN, May 8 (Xinhua): Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday in letters to five world leaders that Iran will scale back more compliance with a 2015 nuclear agreement in 60 days unless they keep promises with the deal, according to media reports.

Imphal, May 8 (PTI) Vigilance has been stepped up by the Assam Rifles along the India-Myanmar border in Manipur to check possible human trafficking and illegal drug trade, an official of the paramilitary force said here Wednesday.

The locals, mostly traders travelling to the border town of Moreh, have been asked to travel with proper identity proofs, the official said.

The existing bilateral agreement allowed local residents of both the countries to travel up to 16 km from the border without travel documents.

MOSCOW, May 8. /TASS/: A tourist group consisting of nine people got into an avalanche in the Altai mountains on May 6, seven people died, while two tourists survived, the press service of the Russian Emergencies Ministry informed TASS on Wednesday.

8 May 2019; DW: Europe's single market boosts incomes of all EU citizens but especially export hubs, including Germany's Hamburg, says a Bertelsmann Foundation study. But rural Bulgaria, Greece and Romania have some catching up to do.

Bhopal, May 8 (PTI) Seeking to counter the BJP's Hindutva plank, hundreds of sadhus chanted "Jai Shree Ram" as they took part in a roadshow held on Wednesday by Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh, who is contesting the Lok Sabha poll from Bhopal seat in Madhya Pradesh.

Singh along with religious leader Namdev Tyagi alias Computer Baba led the roadshow from Bhawani Chowk to Lal Parade ground, moving through main roads of the city, to seek votes.

MOSCOW, May 7. /TASS/: The Aeroflot airline company has started making compensation payments to passengers of the plane that crashed at Moscow Sheremetyevo airport on May 5, a source in the company told TASS.

"We have transferred compensations in the amount of 2 mln rubles [about $30,650] to four of the injured currently in hospitals, 1 mln rubles [about $15,325] to the passenger who refused hospitalization," the source said.

Overall, the company has paid 9 mln rubles ($137,942) in compensation so far.

Kanpur: People started running to and fro as three shops caught fire here on Tuesday afternoon. 

As usual there was enough movement of the people around the Ramadevi crossing here. When a godown of dona-pattal caught fire its leaping flares took into grip two other shops like one general store and secondly iron godown.

Seeing the dangerous situation the shopkeepers remained fearful of reaching its hot flares to more shops.

But three tenders of the Fire Brigade  were put into service for extinguishing the fire. It took a considerable time in controlling the fire.